And so we develop explanations of how the universe came to be and how it might end. We tell and retell stories of minds making their way through worlds, real and fanciful. We imagine realms populated by departed ancestors or semi-powerful or all-powerful beings that reduce death to a stepping-stone in an ongoing existence. We paint and carve and etch and sing and dance to touch these other realms, or to pay homage to them, or simply to imprint the future with something that attests to our brief time in the sun.
